Male supporting garment



Feb. 15, 1966 H, 5, NELKlN 3,234,937

MALE SUPPORTING GARMENT Filed July 19, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN VEN TOR. HENRY G NE L KIN ATTORNEY Feb. 15, 1966 H. G. NELKlN 3,234,937

MALE SUPPORTING GARMENT Filed July 19, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig. 3

49 Fig. 2

INVENTOR. HENRY G. NELKZN ATTORNEY United States Patent M 3,234,937 MALE SUPPORTING GARMENT Henry G. Nelkin, Kansas City, Mo., assignor to H. G. Enterprises, a co-partnership Filed July 19, 1963, Ser. No. 296,247 6 Claims. (Cl. 128-95) My invention relates to supporting garments for males.

It is a purpose of my invention to provide a supporting garment that will support the abdomen by means of a wide, elastic front abdominal panel, the back with a sacroiliac pad that is held firmly to the body by a strong elastic back band and which is provided with a suspensory that is detachably mounted on the body portion of the supporting garment.

More specifically, my invention comprises a supporting garment that has a body portion that is made up of a front elastic panel that is relatively short and wide and a rear panel in the form of an elastic band that is relatively long and narrow in proportion to the front panel. Still more specifically my invention comprises a back panel made up of a band of elastic material that is extensible only lengthwise of said band and which has a sacroiliac pad mounted at the center of said panel, so as to be located at the back of the body when the garment is in body encircling position, to thus provide an extensible mid-portion, of the width of the sacroiliac pad, at the center of said rear panel, the portions of said rear panel being extensible from adjacent said pad mounting to the forward ends thereof. Also, more specifically, the front panel is made up of elastic material of such a character that it is extensible both lengthwise, or in the direction around the body of the wearer, and crosswise, or vertically of the wearers body.

It is a further purpose of my invention to provide a supporting garment of the above referred to character, which is provided with means auxiliary to and cooperating with the elasticity of the rear band-like panel to exert a pull on the opposite ends of the front panel at vertically spaced points along the marginal ends thereof to thereby cause the forward panel, due to its elasticity in directions transverse to each other to conform closely to the body of the wearer, and to thus aid in holding the suspensory attached thereto in proper position.

It is still a more specific purpose of my invention to provide a supporting garment of the above referred to character with elastic pull members that are secured at one end thereof at a point spaced forwardly from the middle of the rear elastic band-like panel and having legs diverging forwardly from this point of securement to the forward ends of the rear panel, at which point they are secured to said forward ends of the rear panel, so as to form a V-shaped reinforcement of the elastic band exerting a pull at vertically spaced points at opposite ends of the front panel, with the apex of the V substantially midway between the two longitudinal edges of the rear bandlike elastic panel. Preferably, the pulling members are each made of a single piece of elastic band that is folded on itself and stitched to the body portion of the rear panel to form each of the V-shaped pulling members.

It is a further purpose of my invention to provide such a means for pulling the front panel into conforming relation to the abdominal portion of the wearers body in combination with stay means diverging from the bottom edge of said forward panel toward the top edge thereof so that the action of the elastic pulling means will serve to hold the suspensory in its adjusted position after the garment has been adjusted to the body of the wearer.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will appear as the description of the drawings proceeds. I desire to have it understood, however, that I do not intend 3,234,937 Patented Feb. 15, 1966 ice to limit myself to the particular details shown or described, except as defined by the claims.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a front elevational view, partly in perspective, of my improved male supporting garment in the position it will assume when the ends thereof are fastened together in body encircling position.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the garment in an open or extended position.

FIG. 3 is a section taken on the line 33 of FIG. 2 on an enlarged scale.

FIG. 4 is a section taken on the line 4-4 of FIG. 2 on an enlarged scale.

FIG. 5 is a section taken on the line 5-5 of FIG. 2 on an enlarged scale, and

FIG. 6 is a section taken on the line 66 of FIG. 2 on an enlarged scale.

Referring in detail to the drawings, my improved supporting garment comprises a front panel 10 and a rear panel 11, the panel 10 having a body portion of elastic fabric that is extensible in directions at right angles to each other. The rear panel 11 is made up of a band of elastic fabric that extends lengthwise of said panel 11 and is extensible only in the direction of its length and thus only in the direction of length of the rear panel 11. It will be noted that the rear panel 11 is much longer and is considerably narrower than the front panel 10, the top edge portion 12 of the panel 10 being only slightly upwardly offset from the top edge 13 of the rear panel 11, while the bottom edge 14 of the front panel is considerably depressed below the bottom edge 15 of the rear panel. Thus, when the garment is placed in body encircling position around the body of the wearer, with the central longitudinal axis of the band-like rear panel 11 positioned over the hips of the wearer, the front panel has its bottom edge 14 positioned considerably below the bottom edge 15 of the rear panel to thus extend downwardly on the under side of the abdominal bulge of the wearer. In order to have the forward panel conform more closely to the body of the wearer the bottom inclined edge portions 16 are provided, extending to the straight bottom edge portion 14 from the end edges 17 of the forward panel 10, which end edges incline slightly so as to converge slightly upwardly toward the top edge 12 of the front panel, which top edge 12 is slightly convex, as will be evident from FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawings.

The one forward end edge of the elastic band rear panel 11 is permanently attached by stitching 19 to the one end edge of the forward panel 10, as will be obvious from FIGS. 2 and 4, said forward edge of the rear panel 11 being indicated by the numeral 18 in FIG. 4, the stitching 19 securing said edge portion to the marginal edge portion of the panel 10, a reinforcing strip 20 being provided at the connection between said panels 10 and 11 in addition to the tape binding 21, the stay 22 being mounted between the reinforcing ply 20 and the panel 10, said stay being held in position between the reinforcing strip 20 and the panel 10 by rows of stitching 23. The other end of the panel 10 is provided with a strip 24 of inelastic material, which is secured to said marginal edge portion of the panel 10 by suitable stitching and is provided with a row of hooks 25 cooperating with eyes 26 and 27, which are arranged in two rows on a similar inelastic material strip 28 on the free end edge of the panel 11, for adjustable securement of the garment around the body of the wearer.

Referring now to FIGS. 1, 2 and 6, mounted midway between the opposite ends of the rear lengthwise extensible panel 11 is a sacroiliac pad of a generally oval character, which is indicated in FIG. 2 generally by the numeral 29. Said pad comprises a yieldable body portion 30, preferably of sponge rubber, and an inelastic cover ply 31, which is secured to the elastic body portion 11 by a row of stitching 32, a binding strip 33 being also provided along the marginal edge of the sacroiliac pad, which binding 33 is also secured by the stitching 32. It will be noted that due to the inextensible character of the binding strip 33, the covering material 31 and the pad 30, the middle portion of the rear panel is inextensible over the area of the sacroiliac pad.

Also mounted on the rear panel 11 is a pair of elastic band pull members each having a pair of legs 34 and 35. The pull members are made of an elastic material that requires a greater force for the extension thereof than the body portion of the panel 11 and thus a gerater pull is exerted by the pull members than there is by the elasticity of the body portion 11.

Said pull members extend from a point 36 on each side of the sacroiliac pad 29, and spaced therefrom, so that the rear ends of said pull members are near but spaced slightly from the side edges of the sacroiliac pad and the rear ends thereof are thus nearer the middle of said panel member 11 than they are to the forward ends of said panel member 11. The legs 34 and 35 of said pull members diverge toward the forward ends of the panel member 11 and are secured to the elastic body portion of the panel member 11 at their forward ends in such spaced relation that one of said legs 34 of each pull member is adjacent the top edge of the panel member 11 at its forward end and the other leg 35 of the pull member is adjacent the bottom edge of the panel 11 adjacent its forward end. Preferably the pull members are each made of a single piece of elastic Webbing that is doubled back on itself at 37 so as to form the pull member into a V form and the overlapping plies of the webbing are stitched to each other by rows of stitches 38 to secure said plies of the pull member in overlapped position, said stitching 38 also securing the pull members at their rear ends to the elastic panel member (see FIG. 3).

The legs 34 and 35 of the pull members are both secured at their forward ends in the same manner, and in FIG. is shown the connection of the pull member 34 with the forward end of the panel member 11. The inextensible fabric member 28 has an inextensible fabric ply 39 mounted thereon, which is provided with doubled back portions 40 and 41, which provide mountings for the eyes 26 and 27. Said ply 39 extends over the end of the leg 34 of the pull member and said fabric plies 28 and 39, elastic material 11 and the leg 34 of the pull member are secured together by a row of stitching 42. A binding strip 43 is also provided along the marginal edge of the fabric plies 28 and 29 and secured thereto by a row of stitching 44. The legs 34 and 35 are secured at the other end of the panel 11 by the stitching 19, as shown in FIG. 4.

A pair of stays is mounted in each of the pockets 44 provided between suitable tape and the body portion of the panel 10, said stays being thus mounted to diverge from the bottom edge 14 of the panel to the top edge 12 thereof. A strip of inelastic fabric 45 is secured adjacent the bottom edge 14 of the panel 10. A row of fastening elements 46 is provided on the strip 45, said fastening elements being halves of separable fasteners, the other halves 47 of which are provided on the inelastic strip 48 provided at the top edge of a pouch member 49, which is provided with a slit 50 along the mid-portion thereof and which has secured permanently thereto at the lower end thereof leg straps 51 of elastic webbing. Said leg straps are made up of a single piece of webbing that is doubled back on itself at 52 and secured to the pouch 49. The other ends of the leg straps 51 are provided with separable fastening elements 53 for securing said leg straps to the rear panel 11, said leg straps being secured to the panel 11 at points spaced further from the center thereof than the inner ends 36 of the pull members that have the leg portions 34 and 35.

The pull members having the diverging g 34 and 4. in cooperation with the elastic lengthwise extensible body portion 11 of the rear panel, exert a pull on the front panel 10, which is greater at the upper and lower portions of the inclined edges 17 of the front panel 10 than at the mid-portion of said edges, thus causing the twoway stretch elastic body portion 10 of the front panel to be pulled tight around the curvature of the body of the wearer to conform to the curvature of the abdominal bulge of the wearer to thus give firm support to the abdomen. At the same time said pull members, because of the legs 34 and 35 holding the front panel 10 firmly in position, will, after the garment has been properly adjusted to the body of the wearer, hold the pouch 49 of the suspensory in proper supporting position. The amount of pull exerted by the members 34 and 35 and by the extension of the member 11 can be varied by adjustment of the fastening elements 25, 26 and 27 in a well known manner.

What I claim is:

1. A supporting garment having a body portion adapted to encircle the body of the wearer comprising a front panel of elastic fabric and a rear panel of elastic fabric attached permanently at one forward end thereof to one end of said front panel, said rear panel being longer and narrower than said front panel, means for detachably connecting the other forward end of said rear panel with the other end of said front panel, a suspensory having a pouch having leg straps secured to the lower end thereof, means for detachably securing said leg straps to said rear panel to extend in diverging relation from said pouch, means for detachably securing the upper marginal edge of said suspensory to the bottom marginal edge of said front panel and elastic pull members secured at their rear ends to said elastic rear panel at a point spaced forwardly from the middle thereof and rearwardly from said forward ends thereof and having legs diverging forwardly from said point of securement of said rear ends thereof toward the for-ward ends of said rear panel and means for securing the forward ends of said legs to the forward ends of said rear panel.

2. A supporting garment having a body portion adapted to encircle the body of the wearer comprising a front panel of elastic fabric extensible both lengthwise and crosswise of said panel and a rear panel of elastic fabric extensible only lengthwise of said panel attached permanently at one forward end thereof to one end of said front panel, said rear panel being longer and narrower than said front panel, means for detachably connecting the other forward end of said rear panel with the other end of said front panel, a suspensory having a pouch having leg straps secured to the lower end thereof, means for detachably securing said leg straps to said rear panel to extend in diverging relation from said pouch, means for detachably securing the upper marginal edge of said suspensory to the bottom marginal edge of said front panel, a pair of stays extending from near the bottom edge of said front panel on each side of the middle thereof to near the top edge of said front panel in divergent relation and elastic pull members secured at their rear ends to said elastic rear panel at a point spaced forwardly from the middle thereof and rearwardly from said forward ends thereof and having legs diverging forwardly from said point of securement of said rear ends thereof toward the forward ends of said rear panel and means for securing the forward ends of said legs to the forward ends of said rear panel.

3. A supporting garment having a body portion adapted to encircle the body of the wearer comprising a front panel of elastic fabric and a rear panel of elastic fabric from end to end thereof attached permanently at one forward end thereof to one end of said front panel, said rear panel being longer and narrower than said front panel, fastening elements at the other forward end of said rear panel and at the other end of said front panel for detachably connecting the other forward end of said rear panel to the other end of said front panel, and elastic pull members secured permanently in fixed position at their rear ends to said elastic rear panel at a point spaced forwardly from the middle thereof and rearwardly of said forward ends thereof, each of said pull members having legs diverging forwardly from said point of securement of said rear end thereof toward one of said forward ends of said rear panel and means for securing the forward end of one of said legs permanently in fixed position to said forward end of said rear panel adjacent the top edge thereof, and means for securing the forward end of the other of said legs permanently in fixed position to said forward end of said rear panel adjacent the bottom edge thereof, said legs being free of said panel between said ends.

4. The supporting garment claimed in claim 3 in which the front panel is of elastic fabric extensible both lengthwise and crosswise of said panel and said rear panel is of elastic fabric extensible only lengthwise of said panel.

5. The supporting garment claimed in claim 3 having a sacroiliac pad mounted on said rear panel at the middle thereof, said pad comprising an inelastic fabric ply secured face to face to said elastic fabric to provide an inextensible mid-portion in said rear panel.

6. The supporting garment claimed in claim 3 in which said elastic pull members are of an elastic material requiring more force to extend it than that required to extend the elastic fabric of said rear panel.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,345,760 4/1944 Lunney l28528 2,695,019 11/1954 Welter 128-96 2,896,634 7/1959 Beder l28579 3,096,760 7/1963 Nelkin 12895 ADELE M. EAGER, Primary Examiner. 

2. A SUPPORTING GARMENT HAVING A BODY PORTION ADAPTED TO ENCIRCLE THE BODY OF THE WEARER COMPRISING A FRONT PANEL OF ELASTIC FABRIC EXTENSIBLE BOTH LENGTHWISE AND CROSSWISE OF SAID PANEL AND A REAR PANEL OF ELASTIC FABRIC EXTENSIBLE ONLY LENGTHWISE OF SAID PANEL ATTACHED PERMANENTLY AT ONE FORWARD END THEREOF TO ONE END OF SAID FRONT PANEL, SAID REAR PANEL BEING LONGER AND NARROWER THAN SAID FRONT PANEL, MEANS FOR DETACHABLY CONNECTING THE OTHER FORWARD END OF SAID REAR PANEL WITH THE OTHER END OF SAID FRONT PANEL A SUSPENSORY HAVING A POUCH HAVING LEG STRAPS SECURED TO THE LOWER END THEREOF, MEANS FOR DETACHABLY SECURING SAID LEG STRAPS TO SAID REAR PANEL TO EXTEND IN DIVERGING RELATION FROM SAID POUCH, MEANS DETACHABLY SECURING THE UPPER MARGINAL EDGE OF SAID SUSPENSORY TO THE BOTTOM MARGINAL EDGE OF SAID FRONT PANEL, A PAIR OF STAYS EXTENDING FROM NEAR THE BOTTOM EDGE OF SAID FRONT PANEL ON EACH SIDE OF THE MIDDLE THEREOF TO NEAR THE TOP EDGE OF SAID FRONT PANEL IN DIVERGENT RELATION AND ELASTIC PULL MEMBERS SECURED AT THEIR REAR ENDS TO SAID ELASTIC REAR PANEL AT A POINT SPACED FORWARDLY FROM THE MIDDLE THEREOF AND REARWARDLY FROM SAID FORWARD ENDS THEREOF AND HAVING LEGS DIVERGING FORWARDLY FROM SAID POINT AND SECUREMENT OF SAID REAR ENDS THEREOF TOWARD THE FORWARD ENDS OF SAID REAR PANEL AND MEANS FOR SECURING THE FORWARD ENDS OF SAID LEGS TO THE FORWARD ENDS OF SAID REAR PANEL. 